May all the Nations Network writers have a very merry Christmas today and tomorrow. Unless you're a grinch or something, then may you have a miserable humbug and successfully ruin everyone else's good time (looking at you, Bettman).

Happy Holidays to all the citizens of all the Nations. In the meantime everyone keep enjoying hockey in whatever form you find it. With that in mind I dedicate this to the Nations:

Bettman stared down at Hockeyville
With his small elvish eyes!
Then he shook, What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Fan down in Hockeyville, the tall and the small,
Still loved Hockey! Without any NHL at all!
He HADN'T stopped Hockey from coming! IT CAME!
From rec leagues, KHL & AHL, it came just the same!

And Bettman, with his elf-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: How could it be so?
It came without Crosby! It came without the Leafs!
It came without $300 tickets, to his disbelief!
And he puzzled for weeks, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then Bettman thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Hockey", he thought, "is more than the NHL."
"Maybe the fans won't come back we don't treat them well."

And what happened then? In Hockey-ville they say
That Bettman's small brain, grew three sizes that day!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all you wonderful bloggers! I got hooked on hockey blogs during the last lock out, and I don't know where I'd be without now your collective good writing to help fill the void. Here's hoping that more and more readers will fill your stockings and the re-launch of NHL hockey (whenever that may be) will mean ever more success to your blogs!